AbeBooks book blog

I can’t remember a time when I didn’t read, at least a little bit, every single day. Throughout my childhood, I always read long after I was supposed to have turned out the light at night. In fact I still do, mindful not to laugh at the funny bits and wake my husband, gently snoring […]

Just in time for Halloween tomorrow, check out this marvelous, collectible book we recently sold. It’s an 1865 first edition of The Book of Were-Wolves, by Sabine Baring-Gould. Its full title is actually The Book of Were-Wolves: Being An Account of a Terrible Superstition. The copy we sold, which went for £750 (approx. $1200 USD) […]

Some clever duck has created a quite funny concept on Tumblr. Literary Starbucks posts witty snippets of what a Starbucks order might look like, if placed by our favorite authors, and some fictional characters as well. They are quick and dirty, and often spot on: “George R.R. Martin goes up to the counter and orders […]

While foraging about the internet’s forest floor to learn all I could about our latest Nobel Prize for Literature winner, Patrick Modiano, I discovered Le Crapouillot. The first discovery was that Modiano had contributed to an issue of a magazine about drugs. The actual title of the issue was: “LSD une bombe atomique dans […]

When I was a little girl, I saw a movie in which some children are trapped overnight in a shopping mall. I can’t remember how that came to pass, what they did in there, or the eventual outcome (I feel sure they made it out alive). What I do remember, however, is trying to go […]

As of this writing, it has only been 40 hours or so since Australian author Richard Flanagan’s novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North was announced the winner of the 2014 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. In that time, we at AbeBooks have enjoyed watching the flurry of activity on the web site. Whenever […]

The votes are in! Congratulations to Australian author Richard Flanagan, whose novel The Narrow Road to the Deep North has been announced the winner of the 2014 Man Booker Prize for Fiction. Not only is Flanagan now £50,000 (approximately $80,000 USD) richer, but he is now virtually guaranteed to be in the eye of the […]

One thing about readers – we love to share our passion for books. Whether it’s an amazing find of a first edition, a fantastic new author discovery, or a reissued edition of a childhood favorite, it’s just not as good if you can’t share it. And learning which books we have in common with other […]

French novelist Patrick Modiano has won the 2014 Nobel Prize for Literature. Modiano, 69, is no stranger to accolades. His previous awards include the Austrian State Prize for European Literature in 2012, as well as a lifetime achievement award in 2010 from the Institut de France. Individual novels have also been recognized with prizes, including […]

I’ve written before about how delicious Kelliegram Bindings are, and this example is surely no exception. This 1873 edition of Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is done in the traditional Kelliegram style, with gorgeous, rich, full colour leather. The front and back boards boast inlaid leather art as well. Rather […]